Hasan Ali says Pakistan players sick from being confined to hotel
A fever outbreak spread through Pakistan team
BENGALURU: Fast bowler Hasan Ali believes the fever which has spread through the Pakistan team at the World Cup has been caused by being largely confined to their hotel.
“We can´t go out much. If we do want to go out, we have to go with an entire security team,” said Hasan on Thursday. Pakistan are on their first visit to India in seven years while only two of the 15-man squad ever having played in the country before this World Cup.
The tense political and diplomatic relationship between the two neighbours means that Pakistan and India meet only in international cricket tournaments. Pakistan´s participation in the World Cup had hinged on security clearance from Islamabad and even when it was given, the government said it still had serious reservations over security for the team. Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali insisted Thursday that the demoralising World Cup defeat to arch-rivals India “wasn’t the end of the world”.
“Yes, we lost to India due to making mistakes but the stopped bus will now take two points from every stop,” said Hasan. “Losing to India wasn’t the end of the world. The game against India is history and that´s behind us.”
He added: “We have discussed our mistakes in the last game so we will do our best to overcome them. We are here to win the World Cup and to achieve that we have to show improvement.”
“Australia is not an easy team. We have to play at our best and that we did not do against India,” said Hasan. Visas for the Pakistan squad were issued only two days before their departure.
“The hospitality is good and we are taken good care of, but we cannot go outside and we have to tell the security before going out because security is an issue,” added 29-year-old Hasan, who has an Indian wife.
Asked about the 13 fit players available for Friday´s game against Australia, Hasan replied: “Yes, most of the players have recovered from fever but when you live in a hotel room then room sickness happens.”
Six Pakistan players -- Abdullah Shafique, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman as well as reserves Mohammad Haris and Zaman Khan -- were laid low with flu and fever on Tuesday.
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